


one hour before

by internetakeover (nymeriahale)



Series: phanweek 2015 [3]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nymeriahale/pseuds/internetakeover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a universe with soul marks, Dan and Phil have known each other for months, but have never met before tonight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	one hour before

**Author's Note:**

> this is my fill for the sfw prompt for day 3 of phanweek, soulmates! it’s actually the first au i’ve ever posted, and might explode into a longer series.
> 
> also available on [tumblr](http://internetakeover.tumblr.com/post/133423869457/one-hour-before-summary-in-a-universe-with-soul)

**(one hour before)**

‘One second,’ Dan yells in response to the banging on his hotel room door.

‘One!’ Louise calls, predictably. ‘Time’s up!’

Dan rolls his eyes, shoving his phone into his pocket and checking his hair one last time before walking deliberately slowly to the door. ‘Hi Louise,’ he greets, grinning a little obnoxiously.

‘Hello slowcoach,’ she replies, rolling her eyes in an unknowing mimic of Dan a few moments before. ‘Come on, let’s go, Zoe and Hazel are already downstairs, they sent me to pick you up.’

‘You mean you weren’t running later than them and got left behind?’ Dan asks, raising an eyebrow.

Louise pauses, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she replies faux-haughtily, before cracking with a smile. ‘Now come on, they’ll leave us behind!’

**(thirty minutes before)**

‘I always forget how long it takes to get across this stupid city,’ Dan complains as they finally reach the convention centre.

‘Are you sure you want to move here?’ Louise asks, not for the first time that weekend, though a little teasing for a change.

‘You know, shockingly my answer hasn’t changed in the five hours since you last asked me that,’ Dan replies, with a little more levity than he perhaps feels at the constant doubting of his decisions. ‘I don’t know anyone in Manchester, anyway, and the cold’s getting to me,’ he grins.

‘Better not move by the Thames then,’ Hazel puts in, wrapping her arms around herself as the wind pierces through them.

‘It’s meant to be summer!’ Zoe complains at the sky, which admittedly is fairly void of clouds for a change.

‘Come on, let’s get inside,’ Louise chivies them all into the warmth.

**(fifteen minutes before)**

‘Hey Chris,’ Dan greets, glad to find him after Louise had vanished having apparently spotted Jack Howard.

‘Hey,’ Chris smiles. ‘Have you seen Phil or PJ? They were heading over together, I thought they’d be here by now.’

‘I haven’t, sorry,’ Dan tells him. ‘I’ve actually never met Phil irl before, I’m weirdly nervous?’ he confesses, laughing a little to lighten the words.

‘Really?’ Chris eyes him a little oddly. ‘With the amount of flirting you two get up to on twitter I’m surprised.’

‘It’s friendly banter!’ Dan protests, trying to cut off any potential teasing before it starts.

‘Does he know that?’ Chris asks, raising an eyebrow.

‘I hope not,’ Dan mutters, apparently not quietly enough, as Chris throws his head back and laughs.

**(thirty seconds before)**

‘Hey, I think I see Phil,’ Chris says suddenly, craning his head.

Dan turns around and sure enough, that’s Phil’s heading towards them. They make eye contact and Dan smiles, a little nervously, and Phil raises a hand in response.

‘PJ’s with him too,’ Dan tells Chris, figuring he probably can’t see through the mass of people.

**(zero seconds)**

‘I’m so happy to finally meet you!’

‘Me too, I - oh wow, _Phil_.’

**(ten seconds after)**

There are a few seconds where Phil just stares, Dan’s left arm held out so Phil can see the words ‘I’m so happy to finally meet you’ scrawled in Phil’s handwriting - which Dan recognises from his videos, what the fuck - along the inside of his forearm. 

‘Can I?’ Dan blurts suddenly, unable to stand the silence, reaching out for Phil’s left wrist and aborting the motion when Phil offers his other arm instead.

There, in what is undeniably his own tragic handwriting, stark black contrasting against Phil’s pale skin, are his first words to Phil. He’s seen marks before; Chris’ from PJ, a couple of people in uni - of which two had faded within a year of Dan knowing, the first time he’d seen that - his parents’, of course, but there’s something different about seeing _his_ words on someone else’s skin, seeing his own skin marked for the first time.

‘I can’t wait to get to know you better,’ Phil says, pulling Dan from his contemplation, and when Dan looks up Phil’s grinning wider than he thinks he’s ever seen.

‘Me neither,’ Dan smiles back, probably a little shyly. As much as he’s come to know Phil through their interactions online, now they’re actually meeting he can’t help but remember being 18, needing someone to make him laugh, Phil being that person for him.

‘Are you two quite finished staring at each other now?’ Chris asks loudly, and Dan comes back to himself a little more, realises that the whole world hasn’t stopped turning while he and Phil had exchanged greetings.

‘Chris,’ PJ nudges him, gestures at where Dan’s arm is still turned to show Phil, though no longer held forwards quite so prominently.

Dan blushes, moves it back to a more normal position at his side, shielding the words. He can’t stop himself from running his fingers over the mark. It just feels like skin, nothing special, but he knows, and that alone sends sparks running up his arm.

‘Ohhh,’ Chris draws out the sound unnecessarily. ‘I mean, I’m not that surprised, just want to get that out there.’

‘But-’ PJ starts firmly.

‘But we’ll leave you two to talk now, lovely balcony over there,’ Chris gestures. ‘Or Phil has a very nice house, I happen to know. Bye now,’ he waves and leaves them be, PJ following after a squeeze of Phil’s unmarked arm and a quick whisper in his ear.

‘D’you want to head outside?’ Phil asks, and Dan nods. The atmosphere and noise had been pressing even before, but now he feels fragile, as if he could shatter under the pressure at any moment. As Dan follows Phil to the exit he notices Phil tracing his fingers on his own new mark, lets a smile spread across his face. That’s a habit he could get used to watching.

**(fifteen minutes after)**

‘You’re my first mark,’ Phil says, all in a rush, at the end of a completely unrelated sentence.

Dan blinks, processing the sudden subject change. He’s surprised, actually. At 23 Dan sometimes gets an odd look from an extended family member when they figure out that he hasn’t yet met a mark, and he knows Phil’s four years older than him. ‘You’re mine too,’ Dan admits. ‘I always kinda wondered about you and PJ, actually,’ he goes on, before instantly wishing he hadn’t. ‘Sorry, that was-’

‘It’s fine,’ Phil waves it off with an expansive gesture, resting his elbow on the railing they’re standing next to, and Dan’s eyes are irresistibly drawn to the play of muscles under the words, _his_ words, on Phil’s forearm. ‘He and Chris are, you obviously know that, and we’ve been friends for longer, used to be closer than they are. I’ve always thought it was a bit odd that we weren’t,’ Phil quirks a careless smile, but it doesn’t quite ring true.

‘Well, you’ve got me now,’ Dan says firmly, reaching out to trace his fingers over his words on Phil’s arm before he quite knows what he’s doing. He withdraws quickly, apology on the tip of his tongue, but Phil laughs so gently Dan can’t imagine there’s a problem.

‘Yeah,’ Phil agrees, and though he’s looking down Dan can still just about see the smile curving his lips.

Phil glances up and their eyes catch, and Dan’s heart leaps into his throat. He knows marks are often platonic - Chris and PJ being a firm example - but this feels different, he thinks. He hopes this is different.

**(thirty minutes after)**

‘I’ve actually been looking to move to London,’ Dan says.

‘Yeah?’ Phil asks. ‘I’ve been looking for a housemate! I want to move somewhere bigger but I can’t really afford it.’

‘Big shot Radio 1 DJ like you? I’m shocked,’ Dan teases, biting down on a pleased smile.

‘Well, I definitely can’t justify affording it,’ Phil clarifies. ‘But I’m serious, you want to move to London, I need a housemate, it’s clearly meant to be.’

‘Yeah, can’t think of any other signs,’ Dan moves his hand to ruffle his hair, deliberately displaying his mark.

Phil rolls his eyes. ‘Just think about it, yeah?’ he asks.

‘Yeah, of course,’ Dan agrees, serious for the moment. ‘Though if you’re offering me a house, I feel I should tell you something first.’

‘You’re not straight, are you?’ Phil covers his mouth with his hand, fakes a gasp.

‘Do you even watch my videos?’ Dan grins. ‘No, nothing that awful. I was just a massive fanboy of yours back in 2009, and 2010, and-’

‘I _knew_ your username was familiar!’ Phil exclaims excitedly, bouncing a little on the spot, hitting Dan in the shoulder for emphasis. ‘You used to at reply me on twitter!’

‘Oh god,’ Dan hides his face in his hands. ‘Yes, I did. I admired your creativity, okay?’ he defends, lowering his hands. ‘Possibly you were one of my main inspirations for getting into YouTube, you know, whatever, it’s not a big deal.’

‘Aww, you knew even back then.’ Dan might have expected sarcasm, but Phil’s voice is soft, his expression fond.

‘I guess so,’ Dan smiles, relaxes his posture to lean on the railing next to Phil. Phil shifts closer, their hands touch, and Dan doesn’t move away. They’re being horrendously sappy, he knows. They’re marked, for goodness sake, there’s no need for this coy flirtation, but that doesn’t stop Dan from blushing when Phil hooks his pinkie over Dan’s, doesn’t stop him ducking his head to hide his smile.

**(one hour after)**

‘We should probably head back in before PJ and Chris think we’ve snuck off,’ Dan says reluctantly.

‘They’ve probably already assumed that,’ Phil grins.

‘Yeah, but Louise and Zoe have no idea where I am, they might think I’ve been abducted! Or that I’ve run away like the antisocial hermit I am,’ Dan concedes at Phil’s skeptical look.

‘Well, if you want to go back to your friends...’ Phil leaves the offer hanging.

‘Not really,’ Dan confesses. ‘I’d much rather stay here with you.’

Phil beams, ‘Well, if you’d rather stay out here, and I’d rather stay out here, we’d better stay put! You can always text them, I think they’d accept the excuse.’

‘That’s true,’ Dan smiles, goes to touch his mark in a mannerism he can already feel is going to become a habit. ‘I guess I’ll just have to endure the teasing for letting you steal me away all evening.’ 

‘Oh, am I the one stealing you?’ Phil asks, voice low. ‘I feel pretty stolen myself.’

Dan pauses, lets Phil’s words sit for a moment, before breaking into laughter. ‘What does that even mean?’

‘I don’t know!’ Phil exclaims. ‘I thought there was something good in there, I just couldn’t find it, okay?’ Phil voice is a little high, his tone defensive, but he’s smiling too, eyes sparkling as he watches Dan laugh. 

‘Jeez, you’re so pretty,’ Phil breathes, so quietly Dan almost doesn’t hear him, isn’t sure he’d meant to say it.

‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ Dan returns, blushing.

Phil leans in, bumps their shoulders together. ‘That’s very kind, but I think it’s pretty clear who got the better half of this deal.’

‘Um, me?’ Dan points out, a little incredulous. ‘I don’t know how you’ve missed this, but hi, I’m Dan, I’m an anxious, overthinking mess of a human and can barely take care of myself. You, you’re gorgeous, and so funny, and incredibly creative, and-’

Dan’s interrupted by Phil’s lips on his. It’s not a perfect first kiss, by any means. Dan had been midword, and Phil brings their mouths together hard enough to actually hurt, but it’s Phil kissing him, and that’s all that really matters to Dan. 

After a moment Phil pulls back a little, eyes darting over Dan’s face anxiously, as if checking he hasn’t overstepped. Dan just smiles. Apparently that’s enough for Phil, as he smiles too, before shifting his hand from that back of Dan’s head to his jawline and bringing him in for a gentler kiss, and oh. _This_ is more like it.

Phil kisses him almost unbearably softly, as if he thinks Dan might break, and Dan feels a little fragile under the attention. He brings his own hand up into Phil’s hair, rests the other on his waist, tries to give back as much tenderness as he’s receiving. Phil rests his other hand on the small of Dan’s back, pulls him in closer as he deepens the kiss just a touch, and Dan can’t help the low sound that punches out of him at that.

Phil smiles against Dan’s lips, pulls back to rest their foreheads together when that disconnects the kiss. ‘Hi,’ he says quietly, giggles a little.

‘Hi,’ Dan returns, opening his eyes. Phil’s eyes are open too, and it’s too close not to be awkward, but Dan thinks he can see the same quiet excitement bubbling inside him in Phil’s expression when he pulls away a little further. They only met an hour before, yet at that moment Dan swears he can feel the entire of their lives stretched out before them. 

He can’t wait for it to begin.


End file.
